Felix Leiter is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond series. The character is an operative for the CIA and Bond's friend. After losing a leg and his hand to a shark attack, Leiter joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The name "Felix" comes from the middle name of Fleming's friend Ivor Bryce, while the name "Leiter" was the surname of Fleming's friend Marion Oates Leiter Charles, then wife of Thomas Leiter.

Felix Leiter, James Bond's CIA ally and friend, played a part in six of the Fleming novels; he is introduced in Casino Royale as being thin, tall, about thirty-five years old[1] and a former U.S. Marine who was working with the Joint Intelligence Staff of NATO.[2] Fleming named the character after two of his American friends: "Felix" was Ivar Bryce's middle name, whilst Tommy Leiter was a mutual friend.[3]Academic Kerstin Jütting describes Leiter as "a cool and quiet no-nonsense character who knows 007's strengths and weaknesses well".[4] Physically, Fleming describes Leiter in Casino Royale: "a mop of straw-coloured hair lent his face a boyish look which closer examination contradicted".[5]

Leiter is Bond's saviour in Casino Royale, providing him with 32 million francs when Bond has been cleaned out by SMERSH paymaster Le Chiffre, calling it "Marshall Aid".[6] Media historian James Chapman notes that Bond's relationship with Leiter represented the Special Relationship between Britain and America, although the American Leiter is in the subordinate position to the British Bond.[7] Academic Jeremy Black agrees, although points out that the Bond and Leiter relationship suggested "a far smoother working of the Anglo-American alliance than was in fact the case."[8] Academic and writer Kingsley Amis, in his exploration of Bond in The James Bond Dossier, considered that this view of Leiter was partly because of Fleming's writing, noting that "Leiter, such a nonentity as a piece of characterization ... he, the American, takes orders from Bond, the Britisher, and that Bond is constantly doing better than he".[9] Bond scholars Bennett and Woollacott note that although the two men share adventures, it is Bond who leads, not Leiter. Leiter's role is to "suppl[y] Bond with technical support and hardware, add ... muscle where needed and money".[10]

Fleming's second novel, Live and Let Die shows that in his early twenties, Leiter wrote a few pieces on Dixieland jazz for the New York Amsterdam News.[2] Bond scholar John Griswold notes that in the original draft of the story, Fleming killed Leiter off in the shark attack;[11] when Naomi Burton, Fleming's US agent with Curtis Brown, protested about the death of the character, Fleming relented and Leiter lived, albeit missing an arm and half a leg.[12] Espionage scholar Rupert Allason, writing as Nigel West, noted that Leiter's involvement in a domestic US matter was a breach of the CIA's charter, as laid out in the National Security Act of 1947.[13]

The first screen interpretation of the Leiter character was in the 1954 CBS one-hour television adventure Casino Royale, broadcast as part of the dramatic anthology series Climax Mystery Theater, which ran between October 1954 and June 1958.[21] For the American audience the Bond character from Casino Royale was re-cast as an American agent—"Card Sense" Jimmy Bond, played by Barry Nelson—described as working for "Combined Intelligence", supported by the British agent, Clarence Leiter;[22] "thus was the Anglo-American relationship depicted in the book reversed for American consumption", according to Jeremy Black.[23] Leiter, who was an agent for Station S, was a combination of the novel's Felix Leiter and René Mathis[24] and was played by the Australian actor Michael Pate.[25]

Jack Lord was the first Felix Leiter, appointed into the role for the first Bond film, Dr. No.[26]Eon Productions started filming the series out of the order written by Fleming (Fleming had started with Casino Royale, with Dr. No being the sixth novel). Leiter was not present in the Fleming novel, but the writers added the character to the film.[27] Bond scholars Smith and Lavington consider Leiter to offer negligible help to Bond, largely because there is no role for him in the novel,[28] a point with which continuation Bond author Raymond Benson agrees, noting that he is "extraneous to the dramatic action".[29] Jeremy Black agrees, although points out that the inclusion of Leiter was a sign of American influence in the Caribbean.[30]

Lord played Leiter in a "swaggering" fashion,[31] according to Smith and Lavington, and they considered him "excellent, an effective American version of James Bond."[31] Bond scholars Pfeiffer and Worrall agree, stating that Lord's was "one of the most satisfying portrayals of Leiter".[32]

When the role of Leiter was brought back for the third Bond film, Goldfinger, in 1964, Lord was again approached to play Leiter; according to screenwriter Richard Maibaum, Lord demanded co-star billing with Connery, a bigger role and more money to reprise the role.[33] The producers instead decided to recast the role, initially with Austin Willis.[34] At the last minute, Cec Linder switched roles with Willis, who played cards with Goldfinger.[34] Linder was the only actor actually on location in Miami.[35] Raymond Benson considers that Linder was "miscast" as Leiter because he looked too old: "he looks like Bond's uncle rather than his best friend."[36]

The fourth film in the Eon series, Thunderball, was the third to portray Leiter and the producers chose a third actor to play the role, Rik Van Nutter. Van Nutter was married to Swedish actress Anita Ekberg at the time and the couple had dined with Cubby and Dana Broccoli after Ekberg had appeared in the Eon-produced Call Me Bwana. Van Nutter was subsequently offered the Leiter role without an audition,[37] although he did have screen tests with some of the Bond girls.[38]

According to Pfeiffer and Worrall, Leiter had a more proactive role in Thunderball and Van Nutter was "an inspired choice for the role".[39] Smith and Lavington agree and consider that Van Nutter's "relaxed and charming performance works well."[40] Benson also concurs, but complains that although Van Nutter is a piece of successful casting, "the script ... does not give the character any real depth".[41]

Raymond Benson again considers that the Leiter role was miscast and considered Burton to be "overweight and too old for the role".[43] Smith and Lavington describe him as "an elderly, portly man in a government-issue suit ... anonymous, orthodox".[44] Pfeiffer and Worrall agree, thinking that Burton was "the least likely incarnation" of Leiter.[45]

In 1973 the Bond franchise introduced a new main lead, Roger Moore, who played Bond for the next twelve years in seven films.[46][47] To play the part of Leiter in Live and Let Die, an old friend of Moore's was chosen, David Hedison.[48] Pfeiffer and Worrall consider that this friendship comes through, with "genuine chemistry" between the two.[49] Hedison played the role with an understated charm, although the script did not give Leiter much to do.[49] Raymond Benson thought him miscast, but acknowledged that "he's the best Leiter next to Rik Van Nutter."[50]

Hedison returned to play Leiter sixteen years later in Licence to Kill and after another actor had also been in the role. Hedison did not expect to return to the role, saying "I was sure that ... [Live and Let Die] would be my first – and last"[51] and Glen was reluctant to cast the 61-year-old actor, since the role even had a scene parachuting. Hedison was the only actor to play Leiter twice until Jeffrey Wright appeared in both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.[52][53]

Leiter is central to the plot of Licence to Kill. Now working with the DEA,[54] Leiter and Bond work together to capture drug lord Franz Sanchez on the way to Leiter's wedding, at which Bond serves as Best Man. A short time, Leiter and his wife Della are attacked by an escaped Sanchez, who kills Della and tortures Leiter by lowering him into a tank containing a great white shark. Bond finds Leiter maimed but alive, and seeks revenge on Sanchez, paving the way for the rest of the film's plot. At the film's end, Leiter is shown recovering in the hospital. [55]

Smith and Lavington consider that, although the scene between Bond and Leiter sees warmth in the relationship between them, "it is too fleeting to have any impact".[57] Pfeiffer and Worrall agree on the briefness of Leiter's role in the film, although they consider that Terry has "virtually no chemistry with Dalton".[58]

Casino Royalerebooted[59] the series, which allowed Leiter to re-appear; he and Bond meet for the first time in the film.[54] He appeared again in Quantum of Solace; early script drafts for Quantum of Solace gave Wright a larger role, but his screen time was restricted by on-set rewrites.[60] Leiter is mentioned in Spectre.

In 1983 Kevin McClory, one of the original writers of the novel Thunderball, produced Never Say Never Again, a re-make of the 1965 film Thunderball. McClory's rights to the film were held separate to those of Eon Productions, although he had been one of the producers for the original Thunderball adaptation.[61] The film marked the return of Sean Connery to the Bond role;[62] he spoke with Bernie Casey, saying that as the Leiter role was never remembered by audiences, using a black Leiter might make him more memorable.[63] Smith and Lavington consider Casey to be "the most compelling Felix Leiter since Jack Lord", although again there was little in the script for him to do.[64]

Felix Leiter has made several appearances in multiple comic strips as well as comic books as a supporting character aiding Bond on joint assignments, some of them being adaptations of the novels and the films, while others maintaining original storylines. He briefly makes an appearance in Permission To Die (1989), later returning in the ill-fated A Silent Armageddon (1992), playing a rather large role in The Quasimodo Gambit (1995), and at the latest, in Eidolon (2016).

The character will get his first solo adventure in a limited series set to be published by Dynamite Entertainment in January 2017. Titled Felix Leiter, the original story is written by James Robinson and illustrated by Aaron Campbell.[66] In the comic, Leiter is contracted by Tiger Tanaka to investigate a terrorist act in Japan, while he tracks down a woman from his past who happens to be a Russian spy.[67]

The New York Times has referred to Leiter as James Bond's "sidekick" and documented that his evolving character has paralleled Bond's fortunes as both a cinematic icon and a hero of the Cold War and its aftermath.[68]